Cate turns TWO!

I can't believe I finally got around to documenting Cate's second birthday...it only took two months!=) This year we decided to do a simple low key birthday celebration with her friends, and met at Amy's Ice Cream. It was fast and furious, because of course, the one day we decide to have something outside, where the kids can roam freely and play, it decides to monsoon...in  Texas, in JULY! What?!? None the less, we got to enjoy ice cream, cupcakes, friends and fun, just before it decided to pour...

 these two...what a hoot...

 chilling out at home after all the excitement...

 We also had a small celebration with the families...

Cate was really into "birthdayyyyy" this year, and has associated birthdays with cupcakes and cake=) She knows she is "twoooo" years old and loved all of her gifts everyone, so thank you all very much!!!

Bye Bye Belize

I love sailing and being on the water so much, and since we had so much fun on the first sailing day, we decided to go again and book with the same guy. It was AWESOME as no one else signed up to go, so we got our own private sail, with lunch grilled out on the boat by our captain!

 sailing along the beautiful coast, taking it all in....

 We snorkeled, stuffed our faces with some of the most delish grilled fresh food...and snorkeled some more...

 Geraldo is awesome.

 That's Matt out there in the orange trunks...I finally had enough of the water, and sun, so I chilled out for a while. 

and on the way back, this was my view again...

It. Was. Fabulous! The food, the atmosphere, the activities, everything was just fab. We went not really knowing what to expect, but learned a lot about Belize, like about the 182 mile barrier reef that exists, and how hot it really is there, and that there are a lot of bugs...=) and had a really memorable trip!

Belize Beach Crusin'

On the day we had nothing "planned," we rode beach cruisers (courtesy of our hotel) around the island. It was fun, free, buy boy was it hot!

 pretty sure I hadn't ridden a bike since I was about 10...but I did it!

we rode up to the north side of the island and stopped here...

 and had a nice refreshing drink...

 Ahhhhh! We cooled off, and then made the trek back to the hotel and had a nice refreshing dip in the in the pool! 

Nice. Relaxing. Day. 

Belize continued...Lamanai

It's only been a month or so since I last blogged, and never finished blogging about Belize, or a certain someone's two year birthday, forgive me!

Here are some pics of the Lamanai ruins tour we did.

 It was hot, humid, lots of bugs, but very worth it!

Sunrise (sort of) the morning we set out for the three hour one way tour...

Yes, I said three hour (one way) tour. For this tour, we rode on a boat one hour from San Pedro to the mainland, then got on a bus, rode one hour on a bus to the river, then rode on a boat up the river to the Lamanai ruins. They did not tell us exactly how long it was going to take to get there, but there was good sight seeing none the less.. we saw monkeys...

that during the river tour came on our boat, and ate bananas!

 FINALLY we make it to the rain forest and can hike to Lamanai...

 I'm pretty sure it was center of the earth hot at this place...but that's ok, just sweating off all the extra calories we consumed...right?!?

 climbing to the top...

 view from the top...

 and we made it back down...

All in all we saw several ruins on this tour, some were still partially uncovered, and some were still totally covered and it looked like dirt mounds, and of course, we got to climb to the top of one! 

Even though it was so hot, (did I say it was hot?!?=) it was totally worth the trip to see them and learn about the culture, even though I don't remember much about it because....it was SO hot, we just wanted to keep moving=) 

If you ever do a tour like this...wear the proper clothing, (we did, except for my blue jean shorts, not proper) shoes, take sunscreen and bug spray, and be prepared to sweat, and you'll have a great time!=)